Emma & Tom Talk Teaching

Emma O'Dubhchair & Tom Breeze
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We’re Emma (PGCE Secondary Drama) and Tom (PGCE Secondary Music) from Cardiff Metropolitan University. Welcome to our podcast, in which we muse about the joys of working with student teachers, the expressive arts, research, and teaching in general. Expect deep discussions, topical debates, celebrations of great practice, and things to steal for your own lessons! Our primary audience is student teachers and early-career teachers, but we hope there's something here for everyone who's involved in the world of education, whether you're new or experienced. Most of our episodes involve a main discussion (often with one or more guests), and two regular slots: something interesting and something to try. And when we hit the holidays, we bring out some weird and wonderful talking points from the internet and just have a chat. Podcast artwork by Beth Blandford (@blandoodles on Facebook and Instagram) Music by Cameron Stewart

  1. Jun 12

    Learning Styles: The Neuromyth that Just Won't Die with Dr Louise Allen-Walker

    We've reached the end of season 8 of Emma and Tom Talk Teaching, and to celebrate the end of another academic year, we're going to take on the end-of-level boss! Learning Styles is a neuromyth (something that people say about how the brain works that sounds attractive but is basically a load of rubbish). Not just any old neuromyth, but THE neuromyth that just refuses to lie down and die. For decades, some in the education world have been beguiled by the notion that all our pupils can be defined as visual, auditory or kinaesthetic learners, and that those who teach them should plan to deliver content in all three of these forms.  People have filled in questionnaires to find their learning style, people have made money off the back of the whole notion, and countless amounts of time, money, blood, sweat and tears have been expended on something that, as our guest points out early in the episode, has not only been thoroughly debunked, but is actively detrimental.  And yet... and yet... still the myth endures, and still the learning styles monster rears its ugly head from time to time.  So Tom has put out the bat signal, and a superhero for our times has answered the call: Dr Louise Allen-Walker from our psychology in education and criminology programmes joins him to engage in an act of public service. In this episode, we strike our own blow at learning styles: the neuromyth that just won't die.  Plus, of course, the infamous Neuromyth Van makes an appearance towards the end of the episode, so Louise can put her top three most hated myths (apart from learning styles) in there to be taken away and crushed.  Thanks to Louise for joining us today, and thanks to everyone for listening for another year! We'll be back soon.  ---------------------------------- Recorded in studio B2.15 at Cardiff Metropolitan University's Cyncoed Campus (with remote guest) on 21st May 2026 Thanks to our sound engineer Pete Lambern, and studio manager Adrian Rapps, as well as the whole team at Cardiff Met Sport Broadcast & Media, for their support this year.

    44 min

  2. May 29

    Research and Enquiry in Initial Teacher Education with Sioned Dafydd

    Today we look at our own initial teacher education (ITE) provision here at Cardiff Met, and question how effective the concept of Research and Enquiry has been for our student teachers. Working in a policy environment where teachers are expected to be capable of creating and consuming knowledge about teaching, and bringing to to bear on their own contexts, we provide time and space for our student teachers to learn how to do that. The idea is that this will make them into better teachers - but how successful has this new idea been and what does our idea look like in reality, on the ground?  Emma and Tom are joined by fellow researcher Sioned Dafydd to discuss what we found when we carried out some research that was close to home, and found out some interesting things about how things are going on! ——————————— Recorded in studio D0.12 at Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Cyncoed Campus on 23rd July 2025

    56 min

  3. May 15

    The Key Concepts of a Literacy Curriculum with Sarah McErlaine

    Tom is joined in the non camera-enabled studio today (sorry, YouTube subscribers!) by Sarah McErlaine, who works with schools in Caerphilly county here in Wales. Sarah has just completed her professional doctorate, in which she worked with literacy specialists to try and nail down the key concepts in English. In the absence of much in the way of clues in the Curriculum for Wales framework, this turned out to be an important and difficult undertaking, and resulted in the production of some very handy concept maps to help support those teachers out in school.  Sarah talks us through how she went about designing a support package by taking an international view of the key concepts of the subject, and collaborating with school colleagues to come up with something they could use.  Thanks to Sarah for taking the time to chat, and apologies from Tom for pressing the wrong buttons in very much the wrong order on the studio desk, resulting in Sarah sounding like she was dialling in on Teams when she was in fact sitting a few feet away! ——————————————————————— Recorded in studio B2.10A at Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Cyncoed Campus on 22nd April 2026

    30 min

  4. May 1

    Debating Childhoods with Joe Brown and Dr Tim Clark

    This week we welcome two academics from the University of the West of England - Joe Brown and Dr Tim Clark - to the studio. They’re here to discuss their recently published book Debating Childhoods, which gives Tom and Sian the chance to have an in-depth discussion about how we think of childhood and how society’s values influence the things we prioritise and consider when providing education and experiences for children.  There’s lots to think about in this extended episode, and if you’re interested in doing some more deep thinking on this topic, Debating Childhoods is published by Sage and available wherever you get your books! —————————————— Recorded in studio B2.15 at Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Cyncoed Campus on 10th February 2026

    1h 8m
  5. SENEDD ELECTIONS SPECIAL: What did we learn from our interviews? With Dr Gareth Evans & Finola Wilson

    Apr 22 ·  Bonus

    SENEDD ELECTIONS SPECIAL: What did we learn from our interviews? With Dr Gareth Evans & Finola Wilson

    With the Senedd (Welsh Parliament) elections here in Wales just around the corner, the team got together in Cardiff Met's broadcast centre to discuss what we learnt from the six parties in relation to some of the big themes facing education today. Tom is joined on the studio sofa by Dr Gareth Evans from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David and Finola Wilson from Impact Wales to discuss school standards, the future of Curriculum for Wales, funding, teacher recruitment, and more. You can see this episode on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/f_6xr3HAyjk We hope you found our Senedd Elections Special project interesting - we certainly did! ----------------------------- Recorded in studio B0.17 at Cardiff Metropolitan University's Cyncoed Campus on 20th March 2026 For Cardiff Met Sport Broadcast & Media Studio technical support: Rhys Evans, Jamie Hicks, Caitlin Meredith Sound: Peter Lambern Director: Adrian Rapps For Impact Wales Producer: Darren Evans Any opinions expressed by the presenters are their independent views and not those of their respective employers.

    55 min

  6. Apr 17

    Tackling Racism in Education with Every Future Foundation

    Podcasting solo today, Tom is relieved to have not one but two remote guests to keep him company! Donald Mbeutcha and Sara Gattward are from Every Future Foundation, an organisation that aims to support schools with anti-racist education, mainly in London and the surrounding area.  Whilst the Welsh government have made a commitment to an anti-racist Wales by 2030, and we have organisations like DARPL (founded by colleagues here at Cardiff Met) doing great work to make this vision a reality, we thought it would be interesting to find out how things look over in England, in a city seen as more multicultural than most of Wales, and where there is not a specific, time-bound commitment in relation to anti racism.  Thanks to Donald and Sara for coming on for what turned out to be a really interesting discussion! You can find them and their work at everyfuturefoundation.co.uk ——————————— Recorded in studio B2.15 at Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Cyncoed Campus on 24th October 2025

    49 min

  7. Apr 3

    Easter Special 2026!

    Our notorious Easter holiday light episode is back for 2026, and we’re delighted that we have Emma’s dulcet tones on the recording! In order to achieve this, we recorded this way back in July 2025, and Tom’s got his fingers crossed that everything we bring to the table ages well in the intervening nine months.  Building work outside our normal studio means that we’re in a temporary setup for this recording, so YouTube viewers can see our big screen misbehaving, and everyone can hear the sound of grass being mown outside the window. July recordings are fun! In this episode, Emma, Sian and Tom bring two items each and discuss everything from school teacher retention to the importance of air conditioning and the unpaid labour of mothers. We hope you find something interesting in it to amuse you during your school holiday break. We’ll be back with our normal service in two weeks’ time.  ——————————— Recorded in studio D0.12 at Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Cyncoed Campus on 22nd July 2025.

    1h 12m
  8. SENEDD ELECTIONS SPECIAL: Reform UK

    Mar 26 ·  Bonus

    SENEDD ELECTIONS SPECIAL: Reform UK

    In this Senedd Election Special, we tried very hard to interview someone from Reform UK about the party's education policy offerings for the upcoming Senedd elections. As you'll hear, we weren't successful in getting anyone to come on, so we discussed the education content of their manifesto document without them. As always, here on Emma and Tom Talk Teaching we then turn to analysis from Dr Gareth Evans from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. The manifesto discussion was recorded on 6th March 2026, and is a collaboration between Emma and Tom Talk Teaching and The Impact Podcast. You can also hear it, together with Jane and Finola's thoughts, over on their podcast feed.  Each of the six main parties contesting the Senedd elections in May has a broadcast slot for their interview: 16th March - Conservative 17th March - Green 19th March - Labour 23rd March - Liberal Democrats 24th March - Plaid Cymru 26th March - Reform UK Then, on 22nd April we'll bring you a special episode analysing everything we've found out from the discussions. Enjoy! -------------------------------------- Presented by Tom Breeze, Gareth Evans, Jane Miller and Finola Wilson Music: Cameron Stewart Producer: Darren Evans Studio Manager: Adrian Rapps Any opinions expressed by the presenters are their independent views and not those of their respective employers.

    36 min
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About

We’re Emma (PGCE Secondary Drama) and Tom (PGCE Secondary Music) from Cardiff Metropolitan University. Welcome to our podcast, in which we muse about the joys of working with student teachers, the expressive arts, research, and teaching in general. Expect deep discussions, topical debates, celebrations of great practice, and things to steal for your own lessons! Our primary audience is student teachers and early-career teachers, but we hope there's something here for everyone who's involved in the world of education, whether you're new or experienced. Most of our episodes involve a main discussion (often with one or more guests), and two regular slots: something interesting and something to try. And when we hit the holidays, we bring out some weird and wonderful talking points from the internet and just have a chat. Podcast artwork by Beth Blandford (@blandoodles on Facebook and Instagram) Music by Cameron Stewart

Information

  • Creator
    Emma O'Dubhchair & Tom Breeze
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    233
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Emma & Tom Talk Teaching
  • Show Website
    Emma & Tom Talk Teaching

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